Good afternoon, I'm coming to you after a longer interval than I intended. My schedule when I'm in the US is driven by the needs of family and I generally don't have the leisurely Sunday afternoons I have here in the Gulf to write. 

After leaving Seattle, our time in Manchester was packed and holding Hope hostage in the hotel room while I wrote, didn’t seem prudent. Also, on the tail end of our time in England I contracted what I reckon is the worst case of the flu I've ever had. On the day we departed, I was wandering Manchester International masked in a DayQuil & fever driven fugue state, and was so out of it I lost my cell phone.

We returned back to the Gulf last Friday and writing Sunday was absolutely out of the question in my condition. I am mostly recovered now but haven't really felt myself until this weekend. 

I'm tempted today to try to catch up on events that have occurred since I last corresponded but it all feels rather depressing. 

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The president of the US, without prior authorization from Congress, orchestrated the kidnapping of the leader of Venezuela. The administration is now making threats toward Greenland and many of its supporters are cheering for some sort of invasion and regime change in Cuba. 

The violent immigration raids in the US continue apace. In a December 19th piece, Reuters reported that at least 30 people died in ICE custody in 2025. At least three more have died in federal custody since the new year and that does not include the thirty-seven year old woman, Renee Good, murdered in Minnesota.

Following that shooting, we find ourselves in a familiar protest cycle where law enforcement officers in Minnesota have murdered a person, on camera, and we are all being subjected to a misinformation campaign justifying their death and attacks on non-violent protesters who dare speak out about it.

Most recently and most disturbing to me is that the lone synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi was set ablaze by an arsonist Saturday evening. Students of history, and careful readers of this newsletter, know about the interconnectedness between the American Jewish community and Black Americans and the history we share despite current mutual antagonism. Long story short, attacks on Jewish people are often perpetrated by white supremacists who hold strong anti-black bias. We don't know the identity of this attacker, hell, they may be Black—but an environment in which Jewish people are under attack is a less safe environment for Black Americans as well. 

That's a lot. 

I am going into this year feeling optimistic about my personal situation but pessimistic about much of what is transpiring back home. I have a form of survivor’s guilt about all of it but that’s a conversation for a therapist and not this forum.

So with that pretext, here are three things I'm looking forward to in 2026.

February 22: Sounders Season Opener - My beloved Seattle Sounders find themselves in an interesting place organizationally. Since entering the league in 2009, they are the most successful team in MLS, averaging a major trophy every other year. At the same time, the ownership group seems to be falling behind in the economic arms race within the league.

On the field the core of the team is aging. Star forward Jordan Morris and midfielders Albert Rusnak and Cristian Roldan are all on the wrong side of 30. Seattle also has the best young player in the league, Obed Vargas, however his contract was bungled by the organization, failing to sign him to an extension. Thus he is out of contract at the end of this season and likely headed off to Europe. 

Last year they finished 5th in the West and 10th overall before exiting the playoffs with a first round loss against Minnesota. But on the other hand they won their first Leagues Cup in a thrilling victory against eventual MLS Champions Inter-Miami. The best way to describe the team right now is that they arguably have the highest floor of any team in the league but their ceiling isn’t especially high either. They’re going into the season with a proverbial chip & a chair and this is probably the final season with the current core of the team. 

Wait, this was supposed to be good stuff.

April 6, 2026: A Violent Masterpiece - Jordan Harper is a noir writer who sets his stories in the greater Los Angeles area. His debut novel She Rides Shotgun was adapted last year into a film starring Taryn Egerton. I was granted access to a preview copy of his next novel, A Violent Masterpiece. The title is the story. Harper is a master of his craft and I cannot wait until other folks get to read this book. 

Something I praised Harper for when he was on the podcast was having his finger on the absurdity of our post-industrial, post-factual, oligarchic moment. The book is in some ways a continuation of his prior novel, Everybody Knows, and is informed by sexual abuse scandals ripped from the headlines and Hollywood. The plot is propulsive harrowing and the characters are deeply compelling.

May 22, 2026: I Love Boosters - Slated for a May release, activist-turned-musician-turned filmmaker Boots Riley is releasing the long awaited follow-up to his absurdist masterpiece Sorry to Bother You (2018). 

If you haven't seen Sorry to Bother You it's absolutely worth seeking out. It's about a Black man who puts on a stereotypically white voice while working in a telemarketing job and the friction with identity and reality that creates. I remember walking out of the theater muttering to my wife “what the hell did I just watch?” 

Riley is an incredible and unconventional filmmaker. This film will feature Keke Palmer, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, and Demi Moore, as the CEO of a fast fashion line targeted by organized thieves in Oakland. 

Riley's films are monuments to our time and the degradation that capitalism does to our souls. His movies have something to say about our moment and the absurdities of it.

I tried to stick to the first part of the year but some other things I'm looking forward to include the upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan. It's a World Cup year, but I'm feeling deeply conflicted about the upcoming tournament hosted in the US and the 1936 Munich Olympics vibes that it's giving. Selfishly, Hope and I have a spring break trip to Thailand around the corner that should be awesome and I really probably should stop writing and buy the tickets for. 

How about you? Feel free to blow up my inbox and tell me what you're looking forward to in 2026.